Samurai Warriors 4

Samurai Warriors 4
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Omega Force
Publisher(s)	Tecmo Koei
Director(s)	Osamu Mieda
Producer(s)	Hisashi Koinuma
Series	Samurai Warriors
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4[1] PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita JP March 20, 2014[2] NA October 21, 2014 EU October 24, 2014[1] PlayStation 4 JP September 4, 2014[3] NA October 21, 2014 EU October 24, 2014 II JP February 11, 2015
Genre(s)	Hack and slash, Action
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Samurai Warriors 4, known in Japan as Sengoku Musou 4 (戦国無双4, Sengoku Musō 4), is a hack and slash game by Tecmo Koei, and sequel to Samurai Warriors 3. While the game was confirmed to be in development for the PlayStation 3 as early as 2012,^[4] it was not until the SCEJA Press Conference in September 2013 that the game was officially announced, with a version for PlayStation Vita in addition to PlayStation 3, and was released on March 20, 2014 in Japan,^[5][6][7] while a PlayStation 4 port followed on September 4, 2014. It was also released in North America on October 21, 2014 and Europe on October 24, 2014.^[1] The game was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series. A revised version, Sengoku Musou 4-II (戦国無双4-II, Sengoku Musō-II) was released on February 11, 2015.

Gameplay

The game features a character-switch feature, similar to the spin-off, Samurai Warriors: Chronicles, where players can take two characters in battles. Two new moves, "Hyper Attack" and "Rage Mode" are featured: Hyper Attack is a move that allows the player to clear out crowd of enemies, although it is useless against enemy officers, as they will either deflect or otherwise immune against it, while Rage Mode enhances the player's attacks as well as empowering their Musou attack by using the Spirit Gauge. Duels are featured, which occur when player-controlled character meets with enemy officers under specific conditions. The create-a-warrior mode is retained; it features a much more expansive content, including the addition of two weapon movesets from the male and female protagonists from Samurai Warriors: Chronicles in addition to the three from previous games. Custom characters can also be played in the new "Chronicle Mode", where players can take requests for their custom generals.^[7] Story Mode is also revamped; it no longer uses the traditional story-per-character format from previous games and instead feature ten stories based on clans and regions during the Sengoku period, akin to the kingdom-based story mode implemented in the recent Dynasty Warriors games.^[2] Each stage offers a selection of playable characters for the player to use according to their participation in the battles; consequently, some characters do not appear in the story, although they still appear in the aforementioned Chronicle Mode. All of the stories lead to two separate stories: the "Unification", which mainly tells the conquest of Hideyoshi Toyotomi in uniting Japan as well as the conflicts between the Eastern and Western armies after Hideyoshi's death that leads to the Battle of Sekigahara and the extermination of the Toyotomi clan; and the "Sanada" story, which tells a parallel story with Unification but has a more personal insight with the Sanada clan.

Story

Like previous games in the series, the setting and story of Samurai Warriors 4 is centered on the Sengoku period of Japan, a period of much military conflict and political warfare where Japan was divided between regions ruled by daimyo that lasted from the middle of the 16th century to the early 17th century. The events depicted, however, are romanticized, and may or may not be factual; for example, Nobuyuki Sanada and his brother, Yukimura, are shown to participate in the Battle of Kawanakajima, even though both of them had not yet been born at that time. Many figures with little relevancy to the period, particularly the female figures who for the most part did not participate in any of the battles, have larger roles; Koshōshō, notable for being Motochika Chōsokabe's concubine in real life, becomes his primary rival in his conquest of Shikoku and is the representative of the Miyoshi clan in-game.

The earliest battle depicted in the game is the Battle of Itsukushima, fought between the Mōri clan and the Ōuchi clan in 1555, with the Siege of Osaka, fought between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Toyotomi clan in 1614-1615, as the closing battle of the game.

Characters

The original features a total of 55 characters, more than previous games in the series. Virtually all characters from previous games return,^[7] including three characters (Goemon Ishikawa, Kojirō Sasaki, and Musashi Miyamoto) that were cut from the main series in Samurai Warriors 3 (in Samurai Warriors 2 for Goemon). Three characters: Munenori Yagyū, Naotora Ii, and Takatora Tōdō also make their debut in the main series here after having been introduced in the spin-off Samurai Warriors: Chronicles 2nd; they are counted as new characters in promotional materials. In addition to returning characters, the game also introduces nine new characters, some of whom are former generic non-playable officers. Other than full playable characters, several generic officers can be made pseudo-playable by recruiting them as partners in Chronicle Mode.

The II update adds one more character to the roster, bringing the character count to 56.

* denotes characters added in expansions
Bold denotes characters who are available by default

Reception

The game has received positive critical reception, with Famitsu giving a score of 34 out of 40 in both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions.^[11] During the first week of release in Japan, the PS3 version of the game sold 120,452 physical retail copies, ranking second place amongst all Japanese software sales within that week, whilst the PS Vita version sold 39,597 physical retail copies.^[13] The PS4 version, meanwhile sold 11,757 physical retail copies during its first week of release in Japan.^[14]

Related games

The game's cast of characters and visuals are used in Sengoku Musou Shoot (戦国無双 シュート, Sengoku Musō Shūto), a social spin-off game released on April 22, 2014 for the mobile phones also to commemorate the series' 10th anniversary. Koei Tecmo also collaborated with the Japanese Racing Association (JRA) to release Derby Musou (ダービー無双, Dābī Musō) on May 25, 2014 for the PC. Derby Musou reuses assets from Samurai Warriors 4 to create a horse racing game, like that of the Winning Post series, with famous Japanese racehorses. Eight characters from Samurai Warriors 4 make up the playable cast, plus Matthew C. Perry (known in-game as just Perry).

The game received a revision, titled Sengoku Musou 4-II (戦国無双4-II, Sengoku Musō 4-II), which was released on February 11, 2015. It is described as neither a continuation nor an Xtreme Legends expansion like previous games; instead, it provides a "different" focus of the same game. Players choose a character as their protagonist for a selected scenario, which has a different progression depending on the character selected. Dream Castle Mode, first introduced in Sengoku Musou Chronicle 3 is also present in the game. The game adds one new character, Naomasa Ii, to the character roster.

The anime adaption based on Samurai Warriors 4-II, such the character designs was announced to be aired on January 25, 2015.

References

External links

• (Japanese) Official Japanese site
• (Japanese) Official II site
• (English) Official U.S. site